Electronic spreadsheets and other computer application programs permit a user to manipulate and work with data, numbers, and mathematical formulas within a spreadsheet document. Typically, a user can create various tables and charts within a spreadsheet document to accomplish a variety of tasks such as accounting, engineering, or scientific functions. Functionality within many electronic spreadsheets and other computer application programs permits the user to view data or numbers in different configurations and formats. Electronic spreadsheets and other computer application programs permit the user to save data in the form of hypertext markup language (HTML) documents or files.
In some cases, a user may want to share portions of a particular spreadsheet document with another user. HTML has become the internationally accepted format for sharing data over the Internet, or “on-line”. Typical HTML documents or files include images, text, and data. An “on-line” information system typically includes a server computer system that makes information available so that one or more client computer systems can access the information. The server and the client computer systems are usually connected in either a local area network or a wide area private Intranet system, or via the public Internet.
One method of sharing an HTML document or file is through the use of a Web browser program. Web browsers provide a user with the capability of finding, retrieving, and displaying documents via the Internet. A web browser is generally not intended for data manipulation or word processing of the information contained within an HTML document, but can display documents or data generated by electronic spreadsheet or word processing application programs, once converted into an appropriate HTML compatible format.
Electronic mail, commonly known as e-mail, is another convenient method for sharing information “on-line”. Typically, e-mail application programs permit a user to send HTML documents via e-mail. In some cases, a sender may want to send only a pre-selected portion of a spreadsheet document to a recipient. One method of sending a pre-selected portion of a spreadsheet document is by attaching a new document containing the spreadsheet portions to an e-mail message. The sender then sends the e-mail message with the attached document to the recipient. The recipient receives the e-mail message and retrieves the attached document. The attached document can be viewed with a compatible application program that can read the document containing the pre-selected spreadsheet portions.
Another method of sending a pre-selected portion of a spreadsheet document via e-mail is by inserting the pre-selected spreadsheet portions into the body of an e-mail message. The e-mail message containing the pre-selected spreadsheet portions can then be sent to a recipient. When the recipient receives the e-mail message, the recipient can view the pre-selected spreadsheet portions with an electronic mail client or other compatible mail application program.
Conventional data editing functions such as “cut”, “copy”, and “paste” permit a sender to define a pre-selected portion of a spreadsheet document. The sender highlights a selected portion of the spreadsheet document to be sent to a recipient. The sender can then select the “cut” command to move the highlighted portion into computer memory such as RAM. Alternatively, the sender can select the “copy” command to copy the highlighted portion into computer memory. In either case, the computer memory stores the pre-selected portion of the spreadsheet document for recall by the sender. The sender can then select the “paste” command to move the pre-selected portion of the spreadsheet document into a new document to be attached to an e-mail message. Alternatively, the sender can select the “paste” command to move the pre-selected portion of the spreadsheet document directly into the body of an e-mail message.
Using conventional “cut”, “copy”, and “paste” functions can be slow and cumbersome. Typically, a sender opens an electronic mail application program running in conjunction with the electronic spreadsheet or other computer application program. The sender then switches between the electronic mail application program and the electronic spreadsheet or other computer application program to create an e-mail message containing the pre-selected portion of the spreadsheet document to be sent to another user. Numerous input commands, such as keystrokes or mouse clicks, by the sender adds significant time to the sender's operation of sending a pre-selected portion of a spreadsheet document to a recipient.
After a recipient views the received pre-selected portions of a spreadsheet document via e-mail, the recipient may want to manipulate the data, numbers, and mathematical formulas. However, if the recipient opens an attached document containing a pre-selected portion of a spreadsheet document, the recipient must also open or run a compatible application program in order to view the data contained in the pre-selected portion of the spreadsheet document. If the recipient does not use a compatible application program, the data will be unreadable. In some cases, the recipient may be able to view the data, but the data cannot be manipulated by the recipient within its original spreadsheet document formatting.
If the recipient opens a received e-mail message having the pre-selected portion in the body of the spreadsheet document, the recipient can use the mail client to view the data contained within the pre-selected portion of the spreadsheet document. However, the recipient will not be able to manipulate the data within its original spreadsheet document formatting, and may not be able to manipulate the data at all. If the recipient does not have an electronic spreadsheet application program or other compatible computer application program, the recipient will be limited to viewing the data in the format in which the data was received in.
For example, a characteristic of spreadsheet data tables and charts incorporated into HTML documents using prior art methods is that once the data tables or charts are imported into an HTML document, they lose virtually all of the functionality they had in the electronic spreadsheet application program. Furthermore, a data table published into an HTML document cannot be reintroduced into its parent application with its original functionality intact, because critical formatting information unique to the parent spreadsheet application, such as any formulas included in the data table, are not maintained. Thus, formulas and other spreadsheet application unique parameters are lost in the publication process. Manipulation of the data from the HTML document within the parent application is thus not available.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved method and system for sending a pre-selected portion of a document via e-mail.
There is a further need for a method and system for sending a pre-selected portion of a document via e-mail that can be viewed and manipulated within its original document formatting without having to open another application program.